Residents of Skra Village Request Reinforcement of the River Embankment

24.05.2017

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

The Environment Protection National Agency spread information about the exceeded ultimate level of the Mtkvari river on May 21. The level of the river was measured nearby Tbilisi and it showed that the river level had exceeded the limit with 336 centimeters. As the Agency reported, the emergency signals are disseminated in case of exceeded 350 centimeters.

Several hours after the information was disseminated, the Mtkvari village flooded agricultural plots, ground floors and basements of the residential buildings in about 40 families in Skra village. The locals said, on May 22, at 00:30 am, their yards, basements and plots were flooded. The rescue team helped several families to escape their houses.

“Huge amount of water flew into the village at 1 am of night. Unless the rescue team had come on time, we would have died. They helped us to leave homes and go to safe places. Our gardens and plots are flooded. We demand dams in the Mtkvari river, so that they blocked the water to flood us and our plots,” resident of Skra village Mzia Razmiashvili said.

IDPs are among the victimized population. They say their houses and plots were flooded as a result of heavy rains this year.

“We asked Mr. Sozar Sobari to pay attention to us and move us to another place. There is unbearable living conditions here. Our storage places were flooded and all our savings were destroyed,” IDP Gulara Chugoeva said.

As locals say the Mtkvari embankment shall be reinforced so that the water did not flow over its bed.

‘We face this problem every year. Because of heavy rain the river floods at least three times per year and destroys our plots and basements,” local Nodar Lapachi said.

Representative of the Gori municipality governor in Skra community said the embankment shall be reinforced, though there are not enough funds in the local budget. Ilia Okroshiashvili said, the government allocated 1 200 000 GEL for the construction of dams but it was not impossible to construct valid embankment protection dams.

“It is up to the Ministry of Infrastructure, whether they will allocate funds for the reinforcement of the embankment or not. The dams need to be constructed alongside the 200 meter distance so that it blocked the flooded Mtkvari river,” the governor’s attorney in Skra community said.

The victims of the flood request compensation for the damage. The governor’s attorney said it is unclear whether it will be reimbursed or not.